Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on May 13th, 2010

[Stephanie Autut]

Yes, it's federal domestic...no, Final Domestic Demand Implicit Price Index—or planning index. We've never fully understood it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Okay, we'll see what we can find on that. Thank you very much. I just wanted to get it for clarification.

Maintenant, monsieur Lévésque, vous aurez sept minutes.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As far as northern development is concerned, in my home, the region that I represent…

Can you hear the interpreter, Ms. Autut?

Would you prefer to listen to me directly in French? I have heard that there are actually three official languages in your area. Can you tell me what they are?

[Stephanie Autut]

In Nunavut the three official languages would be Inuktitut, English, and French.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

What a pity that we did not know that earlier. We could have sent you to Vancouver to run the Olympic Games. You could have made some extra money doing that.

You say that you operate from Baker Lake. Are you linked to Iqaluit? How do you keep connected across the whole territory? Is your central office located in Baker Lake or in Iqaluit?

[Dionne Filiatrault]

In terms of the various institutions of the government, the Nunavut Impact Review Board is actually based in Cambridge Bay, and the Nunavut Water Board's head office is based in Gjoa Haven. They are in the Kitikmeot region of Nunavut. So for us to get to the capital of Nunavut, Iqaluit, to the main government bodies, we have to actually travel from west Kitikmeot to Yellowknife, and then across the top from Yellowknife to Iqaluit, to get to any meetings or that sort of thing.

The IPGs, institutions of public government, are somewhat decentralized. The Nunavut Planning Commission is based in Cambridge Bay as well. With the new expansion of an office that was just done in Cambridge Bay by the Nunavut Planning Commission and the Nunavut Impact Review Board, the Nunavut Water Board now has office space in that building, so we will have a satellite office there as well. The Nunavut Wildlife Management Board is still based in Iqaluit.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

When you talk about water management, are you talking about drinking water, all water, the fishery? What is involved when you say water management?

[Dionne Filiatrault]

The mandate of the Nunavut Water Board is inland fresh water. It does not incorporate marine water. So any water licensing that is done is strictly to potable, drinking-quality kind of water. It's called fresh water, and it's inland water.

In dealing with marine issues, the land claim sets out that the boards have the ability to create what is called the Nunavut Marine Council. It has actually, actively, just this week as a matter of fact, made some very strong headway in moving that initiative forward and has come to an agreement for the development of terms of reference and an MOU. That body has the ability to make recommendations on marine issues, but recommendations only. We do not issue a permit or licence or authorization as it relates to marine issues. It's only a recommending body.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

So you must have to deal with many of the same problems as Nunavik. But Nunavik goes through the Government of Quebec and you have to go through the territorial government, if I understand correctly.

[Dionne Filiatrault]

I would ask for a little bit of clarification of what issues specifically you're asking of, whether they're similar to Nunavik or not.

At this point, our reporting obligation is through the federal government. At the municipal level, we issue municipal water licences and we do environmental assessments for certain activities in the municipal communities, but it's hard to say, not being familiar with Nunavik, how closely it's tied to similar issues that they may have.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

In Nunavik, the Kativik Regional Government is responsible for water management and health management. You have just told me that the federal government is in charge of everything in your area. What happens in the case of problems with drinking water? I suppose that you get your water from the lakes or rivers near the villages. Could you tell me about the extent to which climate change poses a problem in getting or treating drinking water? What dangers to health can it cause?

[Dionne Filiatrault]

That's a very good question. It's not something that we have the ability to do at this point in time. We've not studied the impacts of climate change on the source volumes that are realized in Nunavut. I'm not aware of any research being done in Nunavut along those lines at this point in time.

[Yvon Lévesque, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

I saw the name Baker Lake. There is a mining development close to several villages. When permits are granted to mining companies and to other development groups, there are studies on the impact of waste from those companies. Is that research done by you or by the federal government? When it is done, does the government involve you in the decision or the research?

[Dionne Filiatrault]

The environmental assessment of any development project in Nunavut goes through the Nunavut Impact Review Board and they are the decision-makers in that regard.

The federal government is a party to that process. They can provide comments, but the decision-making, as it relates to studying terms and conditions for an environmental assessment, rests with the Nunavut Impact Review Board.

Once the Nunavut Impact Review Board has finished its work, the details of how much water and what is done with waste is further specified through a decision on whether a water licence, a waste disposal licence, is issued by the Nunavut Water Board.

Again, while the boards are funded by the federal government, the decision-making rests with the boards, not the federal government.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bruce Stanton]

Thank you, Mr. Lévesque and Ms. Filiatrault.

Now we'll go to Madame Crowder for seven minutes.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I want to thank our witnesses for travelling and appearing before the committee today.

I'm just going to run through the presentation. I have a couple of points to raise. The first one is in regard to the point that Mr. Bagnell raised around membership on the boards.

We just got the new legislation yesterday. You can see that it's somewhat lengthy, so we haven't had time to go through it in detail. But I notice that the section on general provisions on commissions and boards doesn't seem to reflect the changes that you're recommending.

Have you had a chance to look at this, and have you been involved in any of the drafting of provisions around board appointments?

[Stephanie Autut]

Thank you for that comment and question.

The board has been actively engaged at the table with respect to the ongoing discussions and negotiations and drafting of the legislation.

Our comments and concerns as they relate to board membership have been expressed to the government and were passed on to the drafters, as I understand it, and the results of those conversations and negotiations have been presented in the piece before you.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

I have just another quick question on it.

You indicated that there are delays in the appointments and in the nominations. Is one process causing more delays than the other?

[Stephanie Autut]

In the past, there was a time early on where NTI, which has nomination authority to the board memberships, would make its nominations once annually. It has just recently changed its practice.

So if an appointment finished early in the year and NTI waited until its annual general meeting, which generally takes place in October or November, there was a lapse of almost a full year in someone sitting in those seats. The nomination then still had to be sent in to government for formal appointment, so there's further time involved with that process.

NTI now realizes that it can't be waiting to do that annually. It has to take a more active approach to ensure that its membership is reflected appropriately on the boards. So we're seeing some improvement in that. However, there's no formal procedure in place on how that process should be happening, and oftentimes the names that are being put forward under nomination don't necessarily make it through the appropriate security clearance process that takes place at the federal level. We believe better communications on that front at the beginning of the nomination could potentially decrease some of the time it's taking to get those appointments formalized.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

So there are some technical details that could help with the appointment process.

[Stephanie Autut]

Yes.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

I want to turn to the land use planning—and again, we just got this, so we haven't had time to go through it in detail, but I note that in your presentation you talked about the regional and subregional plan. Does the legislation reflect what you were asking for around the regional and subregional plan?

[Stephanie Autut]

I have to admit that I haven't seen the final version. So I can commit to having a second look at that and getting back to you.

[Jean Crowder, NDP, Nanaimo—Cowichan, BC]

That would be helpful.

[Stephanie Autut]

It has been a very fast transition from the latest draft to what went in, so I would be happy to revisit our presentation.